I really enjoyed reading this book and going on the journey with the main character. This story is not very believable at all but that didn't stop me enjoying the life lessons that jump from these pages. It is told in a rather different way and makes you think about your own relationships with faily members.

*The Geography of Saying Goodbye* by Trevor J. Houser is an emotional, thought-provoking novel that blends humor, adventure, and heartfelt reflection. Following a son’s search for his runaway, terminally ill mother, the story explores grief, family, and the courage to truly live. Houser balances quirky, unpredictable moments with genuine emotional depth, creating a moving journey about love, loss, and second chances. It’s an unforgettable read that lingers long after the final page.

My only problem with the manuscript is the redacted/blocked out information. That made the book hard to read sometimes. Nevertheless, it was a good, deep read.

What a fantastic read!

The book is described as a son's search for a mother who disappears from her hospice facility of her own volition and heads across continent and ocean. She has taken his credit card and any expectations he had about her imminent end of life. Perhaps, if read as a page-turner it is, the book is simply a son's fascinating journey to locate his mother culminating in an expected end.

Or it isn't.

The book's hidden meaning revealed itself quickly to me. The son's journey doesn't appear to be a search for his mother rather a quest to understand her impact on his life. It is as much a hallucination he experiences, quite possibly from the hospice bed itself holding his dying mother's hand as it is a fantastic journey of planes, trains, automobiles, cruise ships and yachts.

He meets his ex-wife, a fantasy woman, children, sister, his mother's friends and acquaintances, maybe even past lovers. He begins to understand points of view forgotten or ignored. He realizes his mistakes in moments of clarity. And finds crevasses of his heart and mind he didn't know existed.

High school calculus class in India assigned a Russian book of problems from Mir Publications that had page after page of dense text outlining calculus questions. I think this book literally has more question marks than the calculus text from Russia. The son's journey, told through sentences, paragraphs, and chapters of questions is reflective for the reader. The author nudges this reflection without being professorial or instructive - he simply presents the questions. In plain speak. And stops the reader dead in their tracks.

It took me nearly four days to read and digest this book when its short length and uncomplicated text barely required four hours.

This is not a self-help book but might just open doorways and windows into the soul. An awesome read.